{"id":769604,"date":"2022-12-28T18:48:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T23:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=769604"},"modified":"2022-12-28T18:48:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T23:48:57","slug":"how-jonathan-kuminga-impressed-draymond-green-with-his-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/news\/nba\/how-jonathan-kuminga-impressed-draymond-green-with-his-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jonathan Kuminga Impressed Draymond Green With His Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Jonathan+Kuminga\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Jonathan+Kuminga\" target=\"_blank\">Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> has taken advantage of the recent opportunity he\u2019s gotten with <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Andrew+Wiggins\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Andrew+Wiggins\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Wiggins<\/a> recovering from an abdominal injury and Golden State letting <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Gary+Payton+II\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Gary+Payton+II\" target=\"_blank\">Gary Payton II<\/a>, their best point-of-attack defender, walk away in free agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Tuesday, the former lottery pick continued to make his case for more minutes once with his fourth-quarter defense against Hornets swingman <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=P.J.+Washington\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=P.J.+Washington\" target=\"_blank\">P.J. Washington<\/a>, his opportune buckets, and his athleticism to finish plays on both ends of the floor. Being able to play the entire fourth quarter was proof of head coach Steve Kerr\u2019s trust in his defensive play. He also found a way to contribute some timely buckets too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe went with him for his defense,\u201d Kerr said, per <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4039560\/2022\/12\/28\/jonathan-kuminga-emerges-as-defensive-force-warriors\/?source=emp_shared_article\" target=\"_blank\">The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s playing really well defensively, and he was guarding LaMelo (Ball).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the moment \u2014 fourth quarter,\u201d Kuminga admitted, \u201cI don\u2019t usually get to be in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here were the five big Jonathan Kuminga plays in crunch time tonight vs Hornets<br><br>*Rips away a steal from PJ Washington<br>*Traffic rebound over Plumlee<br>*Gets available for dunk<br>*Floater in iso vs Hayward<br>*Cuts open for another dunk <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kEvGuzLhqg\">pic.twitter.com\/kEvGuzLhqg<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anthonyVslater\/status\/1607973007452180482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 28, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>During crunch time, Kuminga sat down, put a seat belt on Washington, and subsequently forced a turnover; he grabbed a traffic rebound out of Miles Plumlee\u2019s hands and hit a floater over <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Gordon+Hayward\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Gordon+Hayward\" target=\"_blank\">Gordan Hayward<\/a> to give Golden State a five-point lead. Kuminga ripping the ball and collecting a steal garnered a lot of praise from Kerr and four-time champion <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Draymond+Green\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Draymond+Green\" target=\"_blank\">Draymond Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat was will,\u201d\u00a0Draymond Green\u00a0said. \u201cThat was \u2018I want the ball more than you.\u2019 That was, \u2018Our backs are against the wall. We\u2019ve lost the lead. Let me go make a play myself.\u2019 So he took the ball. He goes and gets a dunk. He goes and snatches a rebound in traffic. He made every play down the stretch. I think it all started with that play with PJ Washington taking the ball. He manhandled him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here\u2019s some of that Draymond Green sound on Jonathan Kuminga and individual vs team defense<br><br>\u201cI don\u2019t play defense within the team concept. I know most people think I do. But I don\u2019t. When you\u2019re good enough, the team concepts adapt around you.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AnfplvJ63k\">pic.twitter.com\/AnfplvJ63k<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anthonyVslater\/status\/1608153922321145856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 28, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Kuminga put the finishing touches on the win with a cutting dunk in the lane and clamped up LaMelo Ball for 90 feet. Ball wanted a quick bucket with 10 seconds left, but Kuminga\u2019s pitbull mentality forced Ball into a miss that sealed Charlotte\u2019s loss. Kuminga\u2019s effort is a welcome development for a Warriors team looking to reclaim the stingy defensive identity that former coach Mark Jackson built that led to four championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a beautiful thing to watch,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s his (improved) understanding on that side of the ball. He\u2019s in the right spot more often than not now. I think his growth in that area has been absolutely amazing. Quite frankly, it\u2019s been much needed for us. Because we haven\u2019t guarded dribble penetration well. We haven\u2019t been really good at the point of attack all year. He\u2019s changing that for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Kuminga isn\u2019t a seasoned veteran yet, his physical acumen and embrace of being Golden State\u2019s defensive hound dog will help the Warriors turn around a season that hasn\u2019t gone quite as they expected. Getting stops and forcing timely turnovers like Kuminga caused will do the job. Draymond Green took the time to the point that, saying, \u201cit\u2019s a beautiful thing to watch,\u201d Kuminga became a dogged defender in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe f\u2014ing locks up now,\u201d Green said. \u201cI think it\u2019s very impressive to see. Not that you never thought he was capable, but to see the maturity and buying into a role. Like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s my role; that\u2019s what I need to do. I\u2019m going to go do that better than anyone.\u2019 We\u2019ve seen his impact over the last few weeks. He\u2019s hawking every point guard he gets on. \u2026 As a competitor, you lose your spot in the rotation; what are you going to do to get it back? Some sulk. Most sulk. Then some go and take it back. That\u2019s what he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Green also believes that if Kuminga can continue developing his defensive acumen and basketball IQ, he can play within and outside Kerr\u2019s defensive concepts. Being disruptive on the ball and locking up his individual assignments will also help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t play defense in the team concept,\u201d Green said. \u201cI know most people think I do, but I don\u2019t. When you\u2019re good enough, the team concepts adapt around you. That\u2019s what he\u2019s starting to show. We may not want him to pick up as high as he picks up all the time. But if you\u2019re wreaking havoc, and it\u2019s bettering us, and it\u2019s worsening the opponent\u2019s offense, who is going to say stop? When you\u2019re good enough, and you\u2019re capable, the team concepts adapt around you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Kuminga has taken advantage of the recent opportunity he\u2019s gotten with Andrew Wiggins recovering from an abdominal injury and Golden State letting Gary Payton II, their best point-of-attack defender, walk away in free agency. On Tuesday, the former lottery pick continued to make his case for more minutes once with his fourth-quarter defense against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":447,"featured_media":769582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62702,18,63826,62493],"tags":[5987,116,62756,156],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-769604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golden-state-warriors","category-nba","category-news","category-newswire","tag-draymond-green","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-jonathan-kuminga","tag-steve-kerr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":769616,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769604\/revisions\/769616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769604"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=769604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}